COOPER SAVER レコード& CD

Review: While the title of Hivern Discs' excellent "Fragments" series may suggest a kind of odds-and-ends approach to A&R, each of the four volumes to date has been anything but sketchy and throwaway. This fifth instalment is every bit as alluring as its predecessors. Check first Cooper Saver's clandestine chugger "Tell" - all druggy modular vibrations, echoing Horror organs and foreboding chords - before turning your attention to the tuneful Boards Of Canada style lead lines and sparse, lo-fi house beats of Pional's "Purple". Arguably even better is the stripped-back, acid-driven headiness of Marc Pinol's "Vol De Nit", while Velmondo's "Transubstantiation" is a fine slo-mo freak out full of devilishly pitched-down drums, weirdo electronics and synthesized marimba melodies.

Review: Fantastic Twins continue to explore intriguing corners of acid with a third volume of their snappily titled Microdosing label series, following ace contributions thus far from the likes of Smagghe & Cross, Naum Gabo, Gilb'r and Oceanic. This time around Cooper Saver brings arpeggios to die for, Borusiade goes slow and low with a chuggy trip-out, Zillas On Acid builds up a stiff drum jack dripping with tension and Scott Fraser skips off into a frankly stunning curveball of fast-ticking drum machine patter and illustrious synth work. It's the B2 of your dreams - one that makes this record all the more essential.

Review: Here's something of a rarity: a 12" outing from Canada's Common Edit, a label best-known for releasing sneaky 7" singles. Wisely, the label has decided to use the format to serve up more tracks - four, to be precise - with a swathe of scalpel wielding label talent at the controls. Cooper Saver and Patrick Holland kick things off via the Balearic boogie brilliance of synth-laden roller "How About", before Eddie C lights up something fat and fragrant, dips the tempo and goes all jazz-funk on Brazilian disco slow-jam "Don't Rush". Flip to the B-side for the majestic, Clavinet-laden peak-time disco rush of Dane's "Space Up Your Life" (chuckle) and the atmospheric Blaxploitation hustle of El Molito's "Sunny Days in the Chocolate Factory".